ISLAMABAD: The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), led by Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, has “cleared” Rs776.4 million “unauthorised payments” to provincial bar councils and 132 bar associations by the previous PPP government.

The PPP government, which faced tough judicial oversight throughout its term, disbursed most of the funds through former law minister Dr Babar Awan prior to the elections of key bar associations. At the time it faced the wrath of the superior judiciary for not implementing the court’s orders on cases related to the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and the reopening of the Swiss case against the then president, Asif Ali Zardari.

Audit officials, however, objected to the disbursement of payments, as “section 57 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act 1973 provides that the federal government, in case of the Pakistan Bar Council, and the provincial governments, in case of a provincial bar council, may make such grants-in-aid of funds of the Bar Council as it may deem fit.”

The audit observed that under the act the federal government could not fund the provincial bar councils and bar associations at the district and tehsil levels.

Rs776.4 million was paid to provincial bar councils and 132 bar associations by previous govt

“Audit is of the view that the payment of Rs776.4 million to the provincial bar councils and the district and tehsil bar associations was irregular and unauthorised,” the report stated.

It noted that on Dec 20, 2013, a summary and proposed legislation was sent to the cabinet to amend section 57 of the Legal Practitioners and Bar Council Act, and the cabinet referred the case to a committee on Sept 23, 2014. The committee approved the proposed amendments with minor modifications.

The auditors informed the PAC that the National Assembly recently approved the amendments, and the bill had been referred to the upper house.

The auditors suggested that, after the amendments to section 57, the Ministry of Law may ask the Finance Division to regularise the unauthorised payments.

A PML-N member of the PAC, Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, criticised the disbursement of such a large sum to black coats in violation of the rules. He said the government’s legal minds should have avoided such unauthorised disbursements.

Mr Shah, however, directed the law ministry to have the unauthorised payments regularised by the finance ministry after the proposed amendments become law.

Mohammad Akram Sheikh, a legal expert, said an amendment cannot take effect retrospectively, so any past unauthorised disbursement cannot be given a legal cover if the law is amended now. However, he added that the government may make other arrangements to have the sum regularised.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2016